Dear Vega ISD Community:
I hope everyone enjoyed the Labor Day weekend and was able to spend some extra time with family.
What a great Homecoming Week in Vega! Everyone got so involved with the spirit week festivities last week to help make Homecoming special for everyone. The bonfire last week was very successful and we certainly appreciate everyone who supplied burning material for the fire. Our students did such a great job in the Pep Rally last Friday to cap off a great week. Last Friday was my first pep rally in Vega. Pep rallies that include the elementary and junior high campuses are a great way to build the school-wide spirit we see in Vega ISD. I am so glad everyone is included in our pep rallies.
Our JV and Varsity volleyball teams spent the Labor Day weekend winning a lot of games at the Tulia Tournament. Our junior high volleyball teams along with the JV and Varsity volleyball teams were in action last week. We also had our Cross Country team run at River Road, our JV football team kicked off the season on Thursday and our Varsity football team secured a Homecoming victory on Friday night. The Vega FFA hosted a kick-off party which included a visit by the FFA State Officers, including our own VHS graduate Addi Carlson. It was quite a week!
This week the principals and I were able to see many wonderful learning activities in our classrooms. In kindergarten with Mrs. Montgomery our students are learning about the letter “G” this week and about the sounds the letter makes and how to write the letter. Our 8th grade students with Mrs. Begley are learning how to annotate a text passage and identify literary elements in their reading class. In calculus our high school students with Mrs. Walker are learning about the intermediate value theorem and relating it to last week’s class lessons with continuous and discontinuous values.
The Vega ISD school board is proposing a tax rate of $1.3555 ($0.8555 for Maintenance & Operations & $0.50 for Interest & Sinking). This tax rate is an increase by 12 cents per $100 property valuation. For a home that is valued at $200,000 (after the $100,000 homestead exemption the taxable value of the home would be $100,000) an approved VATRE would increase the taxes by $120 a year. Similarly, for a home that is valued at $300,000 (after the $100,000 homestead exemption the taxable value of the home would be $200,000) an approved VATRE would increase the taxes by $240 a year.
Because this tax rate exceeds the district’s no-new-revenue rate set by the state, the district must conduct a Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election (VATRE) in November. If approved, the proposed tax rate would result in over $500,000 in additional revenue for the District which would be used to fund the maintenance and operation of the district, including the ability to provide the enriching educational opportunities through staffing and programming found in Vega ISD. If the VATRE fails, the District will not be able to adopt a tax rate above the no-new-revenue tax rate. Property owners 65 and older with a homestead tax exemption would experience no change to their taxes as a result of the election.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you,
Jerry Adams
Superintendent, Vega ISD